Morning journal and courier., 1887-03-10
Yachting for the PubIic.

! N
 ! To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 l There is no doubt that Americans general | ly were gratifed by recent statement that
 their national pet, the yacht ''Mayfower," was to be sent to England. Of course they were correspoRdingly disappointed somewhat later to read that it was doubtful, after all, if she could go, or that various preliminary details necessary for the voyage could be sat-
 isfactorily arranged. We, the public, cer
 1 tain1y do enjoy all this talk about yachts. yachting and yacht racing; it makes stirring l reading for those of us who never in our l lives once wished, or wish now to set foot on the deck of such craft, but we like it, all the
 same, and keep on liking it bet | ter and better as we gradually learn which end is the bow and which the stern l so that when in time we come to know the main-boom from the jib-boom we shall be able to manage nautical style of walking, roll Tn our gait, 'fshiver our timbers'' and I ''blank our buttons" as salty as salt, but we I do not wish that anyone should draw largely on his private fortune in providing with diversion. It does not appear just or fair to ask owners, however much disposed to be gen. erous and liberal to continue racing their yachts for the public benefit, or to deprive themselves of the use and enjoyr ent of their 1 favorite and much loved craft and be forced to scatter thousands of dollars upon the winds and waves that we - the public-may be amused. We prefer n ct to lay that course at all We are entirely able to pay our own way and will speedily do when opportunity offers. There are not few people even in sleepy, apathetic, dead and-alive New Haven, we'll multitudes | in livelier places all over the land, who would be glad enough of the chance to have share, even when incomes constrain it to be | small one, still share in sending over to | Europe our very own boat. We would like
 to engage MT. Burgess to make for us the best going centerboard sloop that he pos sibly can and then afterwards to act for as l her manager. By that time Captain l Samuels will have finished racing the l "Daunt1ess'' so that MT Burgess would be 1 able to engage him to command our yacht, | the Columbia. For such an espe cial occa- l sion the crack Captains Crocker an d s'Jce'' | Ellsworth of the Puritan and Stone of the
 "Mayfower" might be found willing to
 waive ceremony and ship ad visers, for in the multitude of councillors there is wis | dom." To such sloop thus manned we are 1 ready to commit our national credit as naval
 architects and as sailors, and we commission
 her confidently and hopefully to cross the
 ocean and to surprise the sneering
 English yachtsmen with such show
 as the American centerboard sloop | can make with the British cutter in
 her own waters, for these our yachtsmen
 cousins have already had hint from the re-
 suit of the ''Genesta" and "Galatea' races of
 what this same foul model' is capable of 1 doing when at home. To this pair of defeat
 ed champions it is quite probable that we
 may add the name of the "Thistfe" before the end of the present season. That will | make three of them much alike and all
 served alike, though they hardly be said
 to be Gin the same boat" In passing let nae | explain one reason for this last mentioned
 belief Though built zealously under cover by the cunning Scotchmen and carefully guarded with lock and key, we Yankees make a shrewd guess as to the out , | come of it all. The probabilities are largely
 in favor of belief that the new Scotch boat
 1 will prove to be a cutter of some sort, and
 we all know what chance any British cutter | can have with the American Puritan" or ''Mayfower" type of sloop, let it blow high
 or blow low. Though MT. Watson, her de- signer, visited this country about the close
 | , look at our yachts, and although he has in , his office at home model of the ''Mayfow
 er," which MT. Beavor- Webb, the designer
 of the "Genesta" and the sGaIatea," has
 seen and declared to be sufficiently exact,
 according to MT. Watson's own statement,
 his preference. We know that the I Briton is ssdyed in the wool, J
 and particularly the Scotch Briton; it there
 fore naturally follows that the ''Thistle" must be cutter and besides this reason, to build any other style of boat would argue not only
 an unlikely change of base on the part of
 MT. Watson marine architect or naval con- l structor, but a back-down on the part of the British yachtsman that ) is just now too complete for
 either of them, and will so remain until after
 the beating of the "Thistle" and the close of l her series of races. But to return to our new yacht There will be plenty of pleas
 ant work cut out for her. The simple pres l ence of our yacht in British waters will dis ) pose of the belief general there that the ! centerboard sloop is unseaworthy. Our Cape May'cup is now owned by the "Irex, " won from Sir Richard Sutton (who took it over in thess sGenesta'0 by mere sail across the l | channel to the French coast and back again. } | There is also the ''Brenton Reef cup' taken away by the s'Genesta" and still in her pos,
 session. At this writing am not sure that it Is challenge cup, but -- It IS that makes 3 one and the "Cape May" is another Ameri 3 can trophy that has adorned the lockers and a frightened the cabins of British cutters long
 enough so that they may now be returned to their native land and. as we are no longer offering consolation" cups, it may r not be so easy to borrow them agsin F I MT. Beavor-Webb, just returned from En gland, says that he cautioned his friends
 over there that if our schooner fSachem' I l should cross the water she would ''clear them all out.'' This is, doubtless, true ano we knew it we'll enough before, but it is ar assurance especially gratifying when coming t from such source-from one so peculiarly qualified to judge Our cousins can keel their ''cups'' from us with nothing that they r now have afoat, and such of their trophie 8 | as we may bring home in the s'Columbia - will bs sure to have no 'sconsolation" f1avo | about them, but will be won in fight an, fairly wrenehed from unwilling competitor !, It only now remains to submit our ney project to tine people, confident that it need